Shelving.



S. D. LELAND. SHELVINGI APPLICATION FILED NOV. 5. I9l2.

Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

sanronn n. LELAND, or wnnnnsnnr HILLS, inassacnnsnrzrs, assrenon 'roMann'- racrnmne namrnnn'r a nnorn'nnnme comraiw,- or 'so'orn'rnamnennassacnnsnrrs, a coaro'r on or massacnnsnrris;

\ I ELVI'NG.

specification of Letters Patent- Patented Apr. eo, tars.

n ima -med November 5, 1m. Serial No. 729,628.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that T, SANFORD D. LELAND,

. a citizen of the United States, residing at Wellesley Hills, county ofMiddlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Imrovement inShelving, of which the fol owing description, in connection with theaccompanying drawing, is a specification,

like characters on the drawing representing like arts. v

Th s inventlon relates to shelving and es- A pecially to sheet metalshelving.

c or taken down to make a she The objects of the invention are toprovidea shelving of this naturewhich can be easily and inexpensivelymanufactured; which is rigid and capable of supporting heavy weights;which has such a construction that anyone of the shelves can be removedor adjusted to difl'erent heights without dis-' turbing any othershelves; and which 1s,

made in sections that can: be 1 1ickly set up structure of any desiredlength; and otherwise to im- ,prov'e shelving all as will be more fullyhereinafter described and then pointed out in the appended claims.

' Referring to the drawings wherein I have illustrated the preferredembodiment'of my invention, Figure 1 is a perspective view show-in ashelf embodying my invention;

' Fig. 21s a section through one of the partitions on the line ww, Fig.3; Fig. 3 is a section through one of the shelves on substantially theline yy, Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the corner bracket;Fig. 5 is a sectional view through one of the uprights and a portion ofthe partition showing the manner in which the partition and uprightsbecome locked together when the apertures are punched; Fig. 6 is aperspec tive view of the corner bracket showing the opposite side fromthat shown in Fig. 4.

M improved shelving comprises uprights, partitions and shelves supportedby the up rights. The uprights are designated by 1, the'partitions by 2and the shelves by 3. The uprights herein shown are made from sheetmetal strips which are folded longitudinally to havea general U-shapeand to present the two sides 4 between which the ed es of the partitions2 are received, there belng two uprights at each end of each shelf: 1will preferably also fold the edges of the uprights inwardly between thesides- 4' thereby. to present an inner wall .5 which is substantiallyco-extensive with the outer wall 4.

. The edge of the partition 2 is received between the inwardly-foldedortions 5. The uprights are provided wit a pluralit of apertures 6' toreceive the bolts 7 on w ich the shelves 3 are supported. These a er--tures 6 are punched through the uprlght and the edge of the partition 2after said edge of the partition has been inserted between the portions5 of the upright, and in performing the punching operation the punchWlll form a slight bur 8 which will enter the hole formed in thepartition 2, and thisbur constitutes a means for locking the upright tothe partition so that after the holes 6 have been punched in the twouprights at both edges of the partitions said practically with thehorizontal body portion 13 which underlies the shelf and which ispermanently secured thereto by rivets 14, or in any other suitable Way,andalso with the vertically-extending flange 15 which is provided withthe open-ended slot 16 and is adapted to engage the uprights 1. I alsopreferabl make each corner bracket with a vertical ange 17 on the otherside thereof, which stands at right angles tothe flange 15, said flange17 lying. against the vertical flange 9 on the shelfand being embracedby the port-ions 10 and 11 of the shelf, as clearly seen in Fig. 3. Thisflange 17 will also be riveted or otherwise secured to the flange 9 ofthe shelf. The corner bracket. is permanently secured to the shelf.

The shelves are sustained in place by the bolts 7 which are insertedthrough the apertures 6 and the slots 16. The bolts are each providedwith nuts 18 which engage the inner faces of the flanges 15 so that whenare firmly clamped to the uprights. The shelves thus tie the'uprightstogether and make a rigid structure.

In setting up the shelving two partitions with their associated uprightsare first placed the proper distance apart and the bolts 7 are insertedthrough the apertures 6 at the points where it is desired to locate theshelves. The shelves with their corner,

brackets may then be dropped into place, the slots 16 passing down overthe bolts 7. When the shelves are properly located, the nuts 18 aretightened to make the structure rigid. Each shelf is thus sustained byfour bolts 7, but the shelves are independent from each other and anyone shelf can be readily removed by simply loosening the nuts and itssupporting bolts and then lifting the shelf "ertica-lly to carry theslots 16 free from the bolts 7. This operation of removing the shelfdoes not in any way interfere with any of the other shelves, nor requireany loosening of the bolts supporting the said shelves or re-adjustmentof them. The open-ended slots 16 permit this individual removal of theshelves, as will be readily understood.

The shelf structure may be made of any desired length by adding othersections each comprising a tier of shelves and where the entire shelfstructure is the length of several shelves the ends of alined shelves inadjacent tiers are sustained by the same bolt 7, as shown in Fig. 2. Theconstruction is such, however, that the shelves in one tier can bereadily arranged at different heights from the shelves of the adjacenttier.

The upright construction herein shown has the advantage that it is stiffand rigid and capable of sustaining a great weight without, however,being bulky, and has the further advantage that it can be very easilyformed from a strip of sheet metal.

While I have illustrated herein the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I do' not wish to be limited to the constructional featuresshown.

Having fully described my invention,

what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1- 1. Inshelving, the combination with uprights, each formed with a plurality ofapertures, of sheet metal shelves fitting between the uprights, eachshelf having at each corner a corner bracket which is formed with avertical flange to engage the upright and a horizontal flange or bodyunderlying the shelf and permanently secured thereto, said verticalflange having an open-ended slot therein, and bolts extending throughthe apertures in the uprights and through said slots and by which theshelves are supported, said slots permitting any shelf to be removedwithout disturbing any other shelf.

2. In shelving, the combination with corner uprights formed from sheetmetal bent into U-shape in cross section with the edges folded inwardlybetween the sides of the U, of partitions having their edges insertedbetween the inwardly-folded edges of the uprights, sheet metal shelvesfitting between said uprights, corner brackets permanently secured toeach shelf and detachably secured directly to the uprights whereby theshelves constitute the means for tying the uprights together.

3. In shelving, the combination with corner uprights formed from sheetmetal bent into U-shape in cross section with the edges folded inwardlybetween the sides of the U, of partitions having their edges insertedbetween the inwardly-folded edges of the uprights, and sheet metalshelves fitting between said uprights, each shelf having at each cornera corner bracket which is formed with a vertical flange to engage theupright and a horizontal flange underlying the shelf and ermanentlysecured thereto, said vertical ange having an open-ended slot, and boltsextending through the uprights and slots and by which the shelves aresupported. In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to thisspecification, in the presence of two subscribin witnesses.

ANFORD D. LELAND. Witnesses:

LOUIS C. SMITH, BERTHA F. HEUSER.

